Advent Criminal Mind Shorts
by Pixie Altaira
Summary: A bunch of short tales written using the advent drabbles prompts.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: These are mostly very short pieces put together for the insane journal site advent drabbles. They will be small (they are supposed to be drabbles) and they are not really connected to each other.

Title: Lessons in Gingerbread

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Pairing: gen

Rating: PG

Word Count: 360ish

Prompt: Dec 01, Gingerbread

Disclaimer: not mine, only have them out for a bit o' play time

It is when Aaron Hotchner comes home and finds Reid and his son elbow deep in gingerbread while Reid recites the whole of 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever' by memory, with voices and dramatics that he decides possibly the best choice he every made was to say 'Yes.' when Reid asked if he could treat Jack like a godson.

When his relationship with Beth went screwy and Jess went and got herself a fulltime job other than caring for Jack, he worried. He wasn't ashamed to say he panicked when Jess announced her new job, nor to admit he kissed her when she informed him the hours matched Jack's school hours and so wouldn't interfere with her helping when they had a case. It wasn't his best day.

But Reid…he smiled and congratulated Jess, and then want and asked if it would make a difference when he spent 'faux godfather' time. Jess beamed and they sat down and set out a better schedule that met her needs. Reid then went and told Jack of the changes he needed to make and Jack never even realized that they were for Aunt Jess, who he was a bit upset with for taking her job. Jack had been worried she'd be upset she still had to take him as well. Of course, it was also Reid who'd discovered that tidbit of info, go figure.

That had been a few months back though, and somehow it had all meshed together without any problems. And the bonus? When they were home, once a week, Reid…who was usually done with his work early… left in time to pick up Jack from his afterschool science and arts program and then spent time with Jack –doing homework and cooking dinner to boot, until Aaron got home. Last month he'd come home to lasagna and homemade garlic bread once. Tonight? Gingerbread and soup.

He watched as Reid pushed his glasses up his nose and smeared flour the whole way and tried to figure out why this felt more like coming home than when Haley had been alive and they'd been married and supposedly happy or when Jess and Jack where there to greet him.


	2. Book By Its Cover

Title: Book by it's cover  
Rating: G  
Pairing: Gen  
Word Count: 400  
prompt: dec 02, scrooge

Warnings: not beta read, pre-slash if you tilt your head sideways and squint  
Fandom: Criminal minds

Disclaimer**:** Not mine. No money is being made from this bit of fiction and this is put forth for entertainment purposes only.

From outside Spencer's apartment one would thing Scrooge lived in it. There were no blinking twinkling lights in the window, no Christmas scenes stuck to the glass. There wasn't a tree placed front and center, decorated precisely to catch attention. Not fake frosted windows.

Hotch was therefore no prepared when he walked into Spencer's place.

"I'll be right out. I can't believe I'm running this late. I think my clock must be wrong." Spencer yelled from his bedroom, where Hotch could just see his bare back as he was pulling on a shirt. "You could get a soda from the fridge."

"I'm fine." Hotch said, looking around the living area in wonder.

Spencer had a huge table. It was predictably covered in stacks of books and papers all round the edges, like Spencer sat at different spots to work on different things and then left the spot ready to pick up exactly where he left off the next time he got around to it. In the center, though, was a pinecone and holly wreath, an advent wreath. Hotch could see the burnt candles from the first and second Sundays, the third and fourth candles still unlit. There were candles and holly and ivy and other bits of greenery all about and ornaments hung from everything but especially from the ceiling. The throw on the couch was red and green and there were red and green pillows.

Spencer came out in a black shirt and a festive tie and sweater. He grabbed his bag and keys and coat.

"Ready."

Hotch smiled and headed to the door. "I never thought you were religious."

"The advent wreath? I'm not; note the lack of a Christ candle. However…I don't have to be religious to light a candle for hope and joy and peace and love. Every night we are home I light them and wish for those for Christmas."

Hotch smiled. "Not much better to wish for, really."

"Not much more I want, except maybe someone to love and who loves me. I've got a job I love and there are just some things you learn not to wish for over the years." Spencer said looking towards Hotch and then the sky as they walked to Hotch's car.

Hotch smiled and looked at Reid. That would almost match his own wishes exactly. Odd that in Spencer he found his own desires matched so well.


	3. End of the Day

Title: End of the day Rating: PG  
Pairing: Hotch/Reid prompt: Dec 03  
Word Count: 258  
A/N: not beta read  
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. No money is being made from this bit of fiction and this is put forth for entertainment purposes only.

Garcia booked the vacation. Hotch had been hoping for sun, sand…waves. Instead they all got cabins, snow and skates and skis.

He would have been irate, except Jack and Henry loved it. They built snowmen and went on a sleigh ride and had hot chocolate in front of the main lodge's huge fireplace. Most the adults went skiing, except Reid and Garcia and Hotch himself. JJ made Will join her on the bunny slope.

Hotch was wondering what they'd do the rest of the day but the lodge was full of inside treasures as well. Reid soon had Henry and Jack playing a version of some train game that certainly wasn't really meant for kids. But it was Reid and he certainly had them thinking they were playing the real version of the game.

Garcia had found some other vacationers and joined a video dance game competition over in one of the areas that house a TV and equipment. Hotch watched for a few and then found a book on one of the shelves and settled in by Reid and the boys. He read and watched the game. Maybe the vacation was just as good as sand and sun.

Later, after Jack was down the sleep, Hotch discovered the best part of a cabin in a snow covered land. Off the main bedroom, out on the deck yet completely and properly insulated, was a sunroom with a hot tub in it and one nearly naked and quite wet Reid was in said tub…waiting for Hotch to join him.


	4. Too Many Tots

A/N: You'll notice this has no headings...never made it to the fest page ...couldn't get it to drabble at all, this is the shortest version

Prompt: Dec 4 -Babies and puppies

Mrs. Melinda Rothbulle, the wife of their first victim…a Porter Rothbulle who was at the time of his murder living as Olivia Buller, for no other reason they'd discovered other than to not get caught by some bookies who were very upset not to have gotten the chance to off the guy themselves…finally walked into the police station a bit before noon mid-December.

She had all eight children in tow.

Only Morgan and Reid were there. Both were pretty much pouting. Reid felt bare still and he'd done so all morning so far. They also had only gone to one house, to talk to the children who'd found their third body. Reid felt like he was being punished…and he still itched slightly. Reid's gun was looked in a drawer of the Sheriff desk, after the itching power Morgan had coated his holster with had given Reid an allergic reaction and just the small touch against a tiny patch of bare skin had sent Reid itching and hives broke out all over his side and chest the day before. It was there until Morgan could clean it. No one had had a chance yet. Morgan had his guns, but he was grounded. Until Reid was no longer feeling the effects of his prank and Reid was rearmed, Morgan was stuck with jobs which were completely safe as well. They'd just come in and Reid was writing out the new information they'd gleaned from the most recent crime scene and Morgan was talking with the sheriff. Morgan and the sheriff quickly called Mrs. Rothbulle into the empty interrogation room, because other than the small waiting room she'd directed the children to and the room the BAU were set up in it was the only option really, and both looked pointedly at Reid.

"What?" Reid asked.

"Try not to let the Reid-effect cause too much damage, pretty boy," Morgan said as he waved and pointed to the waiting room. "See if you can gather any info there, like how long their Dad had actually been gone."

Reid, who hadn't been paying attention to the troops marching in, just his map and boards, shrugged and walked into the small waiting room. And nearly turned and walked back out.

The room was small and there were small children everywhere. All sorts of them. Except none who were really big, or even big at all. There were even two, yes two, crying babies.

"Excuse me?" A voice popped up. "Umm, sir? Could you reach in and get Charlie…I would except Rufus started crying first and so I got him out and if I try to get Charlie out while holding Rufus, Rufus tries to help and almost always almost ends up face planting and well…this floor is hard and I don't even have any blankets to lay them on. Chloe will not give hers up, she will not share."

Reid looked at the one speaking and then stared. A boy who had to be even younger than Jack was sitting with a baby on his knee, one of the crying ones, bouncing him up and down. In front of him the other small baby was wailing in a car seat.

Reid rushed over and struggled to unfasten the straps. The boy looked at him and walked him through unfastening the baby. Reid picked the wailing infant up and held him out in front of him.

The boy laughed. "You ain't been about babies much, have ya?"

Reid shook his head.

"Either bring him closer or hand him to me. My other knees available, although they no longer like to share, or at least Rufus here don't. Charlie, he's a sweet baby and likes everyone, pretty much. Just know, if ya sit down though, Wally and Mable, they'll come to get ya."

"Wally and Mable?" Reid asked, sitting in the chair next to the boy.

"They're the toddling ones." The boy said. "I'm Orville."

"Orville?" Spencer asked.

The boy laughed. "My mom? She likes old fashioned names. My dad, he insisted they all be family names, too, but not close family. Mom says he's dead now."

Spencer nodded. "I'm sorry."

Orville sighed. "I'm not sure I am. He left. He found out mom was pregnant with twins and they were both boys and he just left. Mable and Wally, they are just 16 months old, Charlie and Rufus? Five months yesterday."

"You're dad been gone long?" Reid asked.

Orville shrugged. "Maybe nine or ten months now. He'd left before you know? He'd stay until mom told him she was pregnant and what she was having, and then leave for a while…except for when she was pregnant with Chloe and with Phoebe and Jasper, only we didn't know Jasper was a Jasper. He was mad after Jasper was born for some reason. He was supposed to be a Sophia."

"Chloe's the one with the blanket?" Reid asked. He looked and found a wispy haired child with huge eyes sitting in a chair in the back corner staring at him with the most nasty piece of cloth he'd ever seen, one corner tucked into her mouth with her thumb. That corner seemed a bit cleaner than the rest.

"That's her eggo on her yee on her nankie. Nankie is the blanket and it goes everywhere with her. It's been three weeks since mom managed to wash it, and Chloe cried so hard she ended up ill, for days. She turns three right about Christmas time, and Jasper and Phoebe, they turned four last week."

Reid looked down at the pulling on his pant leg, a red haired boy with curls and freckles was tugging and pulling himself up from a crawl.

"Up."

Reid just looked at him and the baby he was holding.

"Up!"

"I told ya. Wally, I don't know if this guy can hold you and Charlie."

"Up, pee?"

"Can you?" Reid asked.

"Do what? Hold a baby and toddler? Of course."

Reid sighed and shifted the baby to one side and pulled up Wally, sitting him on his lap.

"Dis?"

"Huh?" Reid said.

Orville looked over to Reid and the kids.

"Wally wants to know what the cloth around your neck is."

"It's a tie." Reid answered.

"Os," Wally said, poking Reid's nose.

Orville answered. "Good job, Wally, that is his nose."

Another pull on Reid's pant leg signaled the other toddler, who also demanded up.

Reid looked at Orville wide eyed.

"Mom can hold all three, so they probably figure all adults can. However, it's easier to hold the two babies and Wally. If I give you Rufus and Wally sits on your lap facing you, then I can pick up Mable and find Phoebe and Jasper."

"They are under the chairs directly to your left." Reid said. "They have been quiet."

"And that, sir, is not a good thing. Chloe? She is shy, she is usually quiet." Orville said, placing Rufus into Reid's other arm and settling Wally into a somewhat stable position. He picked up Mable and placed her on the chair he'd been sitting on.

"Ice." Mable promptly said poking towards Reid's eyes. "Sat?"

"He wears glasses Mable, and don't poke eyes." Orville said, before continuing about the other twins. "Phoebe? She is never quiet unless she is getting trouble together. Jasper, he helps and he is sneaky. He's not a quiet one either. They even chatter in their sleep."

"Didn't you say they were four?" Reid asked.

"Yeah, don't let the age fool you though. Those two, they are ages older when it comes to trouble. Phoebe? She can light a match. Jasper? He's good at rigging things up and hiding things. No one has seen the TV remote in five weeks. Mom says she'll get a new one this week sometime."

"And you?"

"I'll be six in March!" Orville said. "Momma's promised a new bike and some chapter books that aren't too silly. I'm sure I'll be able to read them by March. My kindergarten teacher says I'm one of the ones learning the fastest."

"You're not even six yet?"

"Nope."

Spencer pulled the infants closer to his body, even though that squashed Wally. Orville was peeking under the chairs and counting feet.

"You sure you saw both?" he asked.

"Little black buckle shoes on green socks?" Reid asked.

"Yeah."

"She was there until you stood up."

"Well, damnation, she ain't there now." Orville said. He pushed Wally up against Spencer's chest and shoved Mable onto Reid's lap as well. "Watch Chloe. Even though she is shy and quiet, she likes to hide away so she goes missing a lot."

Orville grabbed jasper's hand and dragged him out the door.

"Wait!" Reid called, noticing the terror he was feeling seeping through his voice. "Don't leave me!"

Wally was right against Reid's chest and in perfect position to poke Reid. In his eyes went little fingers, in his nose, in his mouth. The wet fingers went into his ears. Other hands, baby hands grasped into his hair and pulled. Mable was trying to use Wally to stand in Reid's lap, her shoes bruising his legs. Reid kept looking for Orville. However, Reid couldn't even see past the two toddlers very well. He was considering wriggling about to fetch his phone and call Morgan to look for Orville and the other two, because they'd been gone a while, when the front door opened.

The string of swear words that left Rossi's mouth were enough to make a sailor blush. The loud noise scared the babies, and the babies crying set off Mable and Wally. Before, Reid could do anything to let people know where he was barking started to sound throughout the station.

"Reid!" Hotch bellowed.

"What?" Reid yelled. He must have not been very clear over the noise though because he could hear Rossi, still swearing, and Hotch trying to locate him.

"In here! The waiting room!"

Rossi opened the door and two puppies bounded in, followed by Jasper, but not Orville or Phoebe.

Rossi stopped short and Reid watched his face twitch. Hotch pushed him aside, with his mouth open to yell and stopped short as well. Hotch, unlike Rossi, couldn't stop the laugh.

Before Hotch could stop laughing and Rossi could actually start, the others had exited the interrogation room to see what the chaos was.

"Phoebe Mae, your stinking hide is mine, girl! What in heaven's name do you think you are doing? The way you behave one would think you are channeling Satan himself, you little rat. These fine gentlemen are cops, baby girl and they can take you way and lock you up!" Melinda shouted.

The babies, hearing their mommy, started crying harder, all of them and Hotch watched Spencer getting more and more stressed looking as he couldn't' even move to quiet them at all.

"Orville, what is going on with the tots?" the lady yelled. "And I told you to leave them pups in the car, what were you thinking?"

Orville popped his head from under the table in the room the BAU had been using, dragging the green socked foot of a red and green marker covered red haired girl.

"I didn't get the pups, but I had to let go o' Jasper to try to get Phoebe. She was on their table coloring on all their papers.

"You left the babies?"

"I just handed them to the nice guy. They just don't know him yet."

Rossi, meanwhile was snapping pictures with his phone.

Melinda swept into the waiting room, leaving Orville to drag at Phoebe until the Sheriff lifted her straight up by the back up her jumper and carried like that back into the waiting room.

Hotch watched as the lady picked first the toddlers and then one of the babies off Reid's lap.

"Now there, you just jiggle Rufus a little and he'll calm straight down," Melinda said as she patted Reid's cheek with the hand not holding Charlie. She then ran her hand through Wally's curls and he settled as well. Mable had taken the tossing herself on the floor and banging his fists on it route as soon as her mother had just put her to the floor instead of into her arms.

"Wouldn't you like him back?" Reid asked, still sounding and looking a bit terrified still.

"Oh no, you're doing fine. Have you seen Chloe?"

"She went off, too? Um, No…I couldn't actually see around Mable, who was standing for a few minutes…until the all started crying."

"Mr. Morgan, if I could…it seems Chloe has gone missing. I'll set you in charge of finding her. Sheriff, haven't you stopped Jasper and those pups from running around yet? Orville, you ain't going to be getting those markers off her now, just let it be, you're dragging her out of the sheriff's grip."

Hotch looked at the kids all crying or shouting and running around and the mess in the room the BAU office and Reid, holding a bawling baby and trying to jiggle it to calm but not jiggle hard enough to shake it, nearly in tears himself and Morgan looking high and low for another kid…who he wasn't sure any of them even knew what she looked like.

And thanked whatever deity looked over people like them that Strauss was on vacation and wouldn't be reading this report.


	5. Terms

Title: Terms

Rating: G  
Pairing: gen  
Word Count: 1000+  
prompt: dec 05 -jewelry  
A/N: not beta read  
Disclaimer: Not mine. No money is being made from this bit of fiction and this is put forth for entertainment purposes only.

The conversation on the jet had turned to what jewelry they each wore and Hotch tried to avoid the topic. No one would let him; even Rossi insisted he join in. Just, it hadn't been all the long ago that Haley had been killed, really, but long enough that between dealing with Jessica and Haley's parents he'd stopped trying to idolize her and had started back into seeing her again as the human she was…remembering all the faults and problems. However, he still felt guilty when he did, like he wasn't thinking well enough of the dead, like he should be turning her into the perfect angel who did nothing wrong that they all spoke to Jack of and he should take blame for everything wrong, like they all spoke to Jack of. And this jewelry conversation was rubbing a still open sore that had just been buried for so very long.

"Hotch," Prentiss asked, after confessing to a hemp anklet with pieces of seashell woven in the strands that she always wore, "Did you ever wear anything other than your wedding ring and your watch?"

Rossi laughed, the gold chain her wore around his neck swinging free. "I have never known him to; in fact I do remember a huge argument once over that question."

"It wasn't an argument." Hotch said.

JJ, who jewelry of choice was a locket from her sister, one from Will and rings, plural, asked what Hotch was sure they were all dying to ask. "What wasn't an argument?"

Hotch sighed. "When I first met Gideon, it was actually before I was married. I was almost finished with law school and he was recruiting for the FBI. I wore an id bracelet, one I'd worn since even before Sean was born. He asked about it, I told him about it. When we met up years later, when I was working in Seattle, he noticed I didn't wear it anymore. He asked about it and I told him about it and I didn't watch how I put things. My marriage was not in the best place and his advice didn't go over well. For what it's worth, he said 'I told you so' years later and I said I ought to have paid attention to him the first dozen times he had told me so."

Morgan, who wore whatever looked good but didn't have anything that meant too much to him, apparently, asked for the stories.

Hotch told them about the nurse who'd treated him for the fifth time in a row in a four month period and the bracelet she had waiting for him time number six, with his name on one side and the word courage on the other side, and how she stated that sometimes having courage was as simple as getting up every day and doing what one needed to do. He never took it off. Haley hated it. Someone other than her had given it to him and he wore it. It didn't matter that they hadn't known each other back then, or anything else. It wasn't from her and therefore he should have trashed it the moment he started getting interested in her, and certainly be the time they were dating. She tolerated it though, until he ruined her life and got a job with the FBI and moved them to Seattle, where she didn't even have her mom to comfort her during her great time of need…or make Aaron recognize the error of his ways and change his job back to one that could get him into the House, at least…if not the Senate or the Governorship. Aaron lost it with her, about the fourth or fifth time she'd thrown her and her mother's ambitions for him in his face and yelled at her that he would never have gone into politics anyway, so she should have listened to him instead of just ignoring him all these years they'd been together in the first place. The next morning he'd woken up with the bracelet gone and his wife smug as could be. In fact the next two weeks met with any item he'd ever cared about being systematically destroyed, unless it was worth a great deal and Haley used it to brag about. However, she acted like everything was fine other than pouting and Aaron had figured she must have gotten used to his new job and kept telling himself that it wasn't his wife who was behind the destruction, just accidents and bad luck. He'd met up with Gideon during that two week time frame.

Reid, who had admitted to wearing surfer type necklaces for a short time in his life, and crystals for another short time in his life…all on silk cording or cotton rope, listened and it was Reid who set the comforting hand on Hotch's arm as he told the story.

"Did Gideon really think it was Haley?" JJ asked.

"It was Haley." Hotch said. "After Boston, when I was sitting with Gideon at the hospital after we'd returned here, and Haley was mad because I hadn't come directly home from work as she had demanded, she stormed in shouting about how if I was going to be ruining her life again by not obeying her when she demanded it I would find my precious items once again destroyed and then maybe I would learn who should be the most important being in my life."

"I always thought your marriage was mostly happy," said Morgan.

"Of course you did," Hotch said. "It could not have been any other way."

Rossi grumbled and Hotch gave a dark chuckle. "The team before Derek had a better idea, they'd seen a bit of her temper. By the time Derek came, though, she was wanting a baby and I refused to even try for a baby just to subject them to tantrums and tizzy fits."

"She always said Jack was your idea. That you pushed for her to have him, to make a family." JJ said.

Hotch sighed. Before anyone else could say anything Reid spoke up.

"So, has anyone noticed items of jewelry Garcia or Strauss wear? Or how about Anderson or Dickens?"

"Dickens?" Morgan asked.

"Please tell me you do look and remember the names of the people who pass you through security every day! Dickens, the lady with the red hair. She wears it in braids all the time." Reid said.

"Oh, the one who has the nice…umm…never mind." Morgan said.

The conversation swept back to peoples jewelry that they couldn't be without, and Hotch sat filled with the guilt of telling those stories of Haley, true as they were, because she was dead and he shouldn't even think anything negative about her. Reid kept softly patting his arm.

Two days later, a small box appeared on his desk sometime while he was out to lunch.

In it was an exact replica of the original ID bracelet Hotch used to wear. It was the same width and had the same weight of chain; his name and the word courage were both in the same font. He pulled it out and placed it on his wrist and felt peace.

The note at the bottom of the box simple said "I concur, Reid."

Hotch wasn't sure he was ready to name the second emotion quite yet.


	6. Lost

Title: Lost  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 260ish  
Prompt: Dec 06 –frosted trees  
Warnings: may offend men  
A/N: not beta read  
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. No money is being made from this bit of fiction and this is put forth for entertainment purposes only.

It was simply freezing and all Reid could see where snowy fields for miles and back roads lined with a row of frost covered trees. Not even a thick row of trees, just a single row that showed clearly the white undisturbed fields beyond.

"I think we are lost." Reid told Morgan.

"We're not lost," Rossi insisted from the front seat.

"Hotch, are we lost?" Reid asked, because Hotch was the one driving.

"No."

"Are you sure?" Reid asked. "Because, I don't see tire tracks. If this was the way to the crime scene, shouldn't we have seen tire tracks?"

"We are not lost." Morgan said.

"I also don't see the other truck."

"We aren't lost."

So Reid stopped asking and stared out the window, at the frosted trees and the snowy fields, until a black pickup pulled up beside them.

"Where ya all been? We've been waitin' for ya for an hour now. Didn't ya notice the turn? I done told ya, two roads past the double row, to the left."

The sheriff was looking in at them.

Reid smirked and leaned back as Hotch followed the sheriff to a spot where they could turn around and then back down the dirt road to the right turn. Two fields down, but within view Reid could see that the frosted tress were two deep in their rows.

They all unloaded from the SUV and joined the ladies at the crime scene.

"Where were you? It's too cold out here to be out for too long just waiting and the gentlemen wouldn't let us start without you." JJ hissed.

"We were lost." Reid said, just as the other three shouted "We weren't lost!"


	7. Soul Stealers

Title: Soul Stealers  
Characters: Spencer Reid  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 1000+  
Disclaimer:. Not mine and I make no money from this.  
Prompt: dec 07, snow globe

Warning: a bit creepy

A/N: not beta read

There were holiday items Spencer Reid never allowed at his place. Motion activated anything…not happening. Singing stuffed critters, those were a no go. Reindeer antler headbands? No.

A tree –fake so it wasn't quite as big of a fire hazard- with solid single colored lights was all right. He rather liked Christmas ornaments although he admitted to being drawn to the ones which weren't really common…this year's prize find had been a woolly mammoth and a musk-ox, with real musk-ox fur on them both.

Candles- candles were good. He liked holiday spice scented ones, but not too many of the evergreen scented ones. He liked the flickering light. He liked that if he got the big ones in the jars that he could burn them through the season and still have a great deal of burn time left and so he could put them in his candle emergency cupboard and have light when the power went out.

He could do bells, he preferred the ones with clappers and not jingle bells, but he found an old set of sleigh bells, honest to goodness heavy ones set on leather straps, that he displayed during the winter. He could do holly and ivy and mistletoe.

But he could not do snow globes.

Snow globes were not allowed. Not in his home. Garcia, before she knew better, got him one the first Christmas she started working with the team a whole lot. She got everyone one. It wasn't big, and it had a nice choice of music with it. His just showed skaters out on a lake. He refused to take it home. If it had been bigger, or a building of any sort…he wouldn't have even kept it at all.

Snow globes were creepy. Snow globes were eerie. Snow globes could steal your soul…or at least your mind.

When he was five, it was the Christmas time after Riley Jenkins and his dad dragging his mom in for stronger meds and more meds…ones he could use to make her compliant, especially at night…his dad's mom brought over a big snow globe early in November, for them to display for the whole of the holiday season. She'd had is specially made, the house a miniature copy of their own…all decorated up as it had been the year before. There was his mom's car and his dad's car in the driveway and their mailbox at the corner.

But there were too many people. Too many kids. And it was snowy in the snow globe though, a white Christmas with pine trees and a snowman off to the side and sleds set on the porch. Spencer, as an adult thinking back, suspects his grandmother maybe based it off a Christmas party that they didn't have, but that she would have liked them to have. His mother though, his mother stared at the snow globe constantly. She picked it up, she shook it till it snowed (which it never did in Vegas…). She counted. She counted the children (four) and the adults (six) and the sleds (three). She a talked to them, and she told him to listen as they talked back. Spencer never heard them, but she'd make him stand there with his ear to the glass, trying and trying to hear.

Sometime she'd have him help her search the house…look for the missing children, find children from the globe so they wouldn't be gone any more. Hours and hours she'd make him hunt through the house with her, calling and yelling.

And his dad just laughed. And his grandmother just laughed.

And when he broke the snow globe, his grandmother took a whip to his back and his dad locked him in the laundry room in the basement for nearly 24 hours. The globe was back by the end of the next week, with another one which they'd found of the campus where his mom had taught, the building she'd mostly taught in. He tried again the next year, when the snow globe showed his school and his mom's car with too many kids in it. That time not only was the school back, but a snow globe of his mom's school from when she'd been little and one with the cabin in the woods they'd spent time at that summer, with his dad and his dad's boss and his family (it was horrid…Spencer had spent half the week tied to different trees as his dad's boss's boys tortured him…all in the name of cowboys and Indians, such a wholesome game). And he'd been whipped by his grandmother again and then spanked and locked in the storage pantry in the dark for all night and half the next day by his dad.

They added to the snow globes every year, even after his dad left them a snow globe showed up in the house at Christmas time, one made specifically for where they were living or where they'd been. Nothing else, nothing useful. Not money, or food, or clothes or help of any sort. Just a snow globe, with too many people, too many kids. The house they'd moved to after his dad left and they got the note informing them that the house they were currently living in was Reid family property and they needed to go. Spencer's high school, Spencer's dorm at university, the small house they'd moved to when Spencer was fifteen. His mother would stare into the globes all day and all night until Spencer could get it away from her. He'd hope for the searching time, the time when she made him hunt for the missing kids, the children she'd lost somewhere…who were calling for her to find them from inside the globes. Because when she made him hunt, she usually looked too, and she set the globe down and he could often snatch it then, hide it away. She'd rant and rave and scream and yell, until she forgot for a while. He had to hide them well, because then she'd remember and go hunting for the globes…looking and tearing things apart and throwing things. The whole season…until spring came, when the globes were no longer what was right, because they were winter. Every year…until Spencer's seventeenth year, when his grandfather Reid called and informed him his loving grandmother had passed away and he thought Spencer should know since he knew how much his sweet wife had adored the boy, always spending so much on him for Christmas. Spencer choked and nearly threw up. Luckily his grandfather thought it was in sorrow. He sent the money his grandmother had tucked away in an account just for those snow globes to Spencer, due to Spencer's sorrow. It was enough to fully pay for the first four years of his mother's care and all the fees to get her set there.

He did destroy the snow globes. He smashed them till they were tiny bits of nothing, till they couldn't play anymore. He looked over his shoulder the whole time he did so, too.


	8. Waking

Title: Waking

Pairing: Hotch/Reid  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 311  
Disclaimer: not mine and making no money  
Prompt: dec 08 –cuddling under covers

A/N: not beta read

The chest Reid was snuggled up against was warm and comfortable and decidedly male. Strong male, broad shoulders, not smooth but not a fuzzy pelt either…more body hair than his own chest had, naked.

His own chest was bare as well. Bare and pressed against a male chest in a comfortable warm bed with a thick white down comforter over them keeping them all warm and cozy.

He considered waking up all the way, or at least enough of the way to figure out where he was…remember where he was. And who he was with. But it was warm, and comfortable and cozy and the other man's breathing was deep and peaceful and so nice and soothing.

It was the kiss on the top of his head that woke him, the body slipping from behind him and out of the bed quietly telling the small voice on the other side of the door to the bedroom that the other male was being as quick as he could be to answer.

It was the small body hopping onto the bed that fully brought awareness and a quick check by hands down his own front all the way to waist to check for not bare beyond chest.

Jack was now on the bed, and so that meant…oh yeah.

Movie night, at Hotch's house. Falling asleep during the movie, everyone else leaving. The perfume left on the guestroom sheets from Jessica's last stay making Spencer have a reaction. The cream to relive the itchiness…a kiss, more kisses. Not more than kissing and stroking because they both want to make it something that will be there a long time. Sleeping warm, safe, sound…all through the night without a nightmare.

Reid turned over and looked up, into Jack's smiling face and into Hotch's smiling face. Hotch's smiling face which beamed brighter than the sun…

"Good Morning."


	9. Home

Title: Home  
Pairing: Hotch/Reid  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 295  
Disclaimer:. Not mine, barrowing for a bit of play  
Prompt: dec 09- home for Christmas

A/N: not beta read

"Hey, pretty boy, you heading home for Christmas?" Morgan asked as he packed up his files and tucked them away and put everything he was taking with him for the holiday into a pile.

"Home?" asked Reid.

"You know? Go see your mom and stuff?"

"Oh, to Vegas. No. I saw her two weeks ago while we were stuck in the city waiting for the vehicles." Reid said.

"Bummer. You stuck around here then?" Morgan asked.

"Yes, it'll be fine though." Reid answered.

"If you say. I'm off. Mom is very excited for me to be home for Christmas this year." Morgan said.

Reid waved. Morgan often forgot that it was different. He went HOME, to the house he grew up in, to waiting family members. Reid's mom was in an institution, and Vegas really held few good memories. It hadn't really even felt like home when he was fifteen and going back during winter break from CalTech.

Besides…

"Reid, you ready?" Hotch asked as he descended the stairs from his office.

"Let me stuff these file in my bag." Reid answered.

Hotch moved till he could help Reid slide the files into his satchel, and then tucked other loose items into the bag as well.

"Jack can't wait to have us home for nearly a whole week." Hotch said. "I promised him pizza for dinner tonight, I hope you don't mind."

"Of course I don't. Are you sure you want me to stay the whole time?" Reid asked.

Hotch didn't answer until they'd entered the elevator, and then he answered with a kiss.

"We want you at home, with us, where you should be over the holiday. Isn't it right and proper to spend your Christmas with your family?"

Reid answered with a return kiss.


	10. Coming Back

Title: Coming Back

Characters: Reid, Rossi  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 550+  
Disclaimer: Not Mine  
Prompt: Dec 10 red and green

Warnings: pre-slash if you squint

A/N: note beta read,

Dave Rossi had slowly gotten used to certain things over the years he had rejoined the BAU.

Valentine's day was lovely, even if you didn't have sweet heart at the time, because Penelope Garcia always knew and made sure you knew someone loved you. This past year he'd found a wine older than Spencer and his favorite German chocolates on his desk. He'd have suspected someone else, but everything was topped with huge purple and pink gauze bows and Penelope came in to make sure he understood those were his treats because she loved him so, and not ones to be shared. Those meant to be shared were sitting in the conference room.

Halloween was celebrated by a costume show by the BAU mini members and Spencer and sometimes Garcia.

And Christmas? Well, it was celebrated in grand chaos. There was always a large office party, and Garcia and Morgan and the whole of team c and Anderson's back-up team found ways to bring the drinks…the type of drinks which no-one could drive home after drinking. Spencer spent the whole afternoon trying to hide, as did Hotch. The rest spent their whole afternoon trying to make those two participate. And decorations? Well, it was a toss-up because that all depended on who got to it first. Last year the whole office was bows and gold and silver and more bows and lots of glitter and pinks and purples and more bows. Garcia had decorated while everyone was out.

This year Spencer, who had had major issues with finding things and himself glittery from half way through November until May, because the glitter just seemed to stay forever, had taken the initiative and come in the weekend after Thanksgiving. Garcia had had the flu the week before and Dave had heard Spencer Reid actually praying for her not to be well before he'd had his chance. A stroke of luck, and no cases over Thanksgiving week, had Spencer bouncing by the time they went off for their days off Wednesday night.

Monday after Thanksgiving, Dave walked into Red and Green….Red and Green balls were strung along fishing line and hung in a weave pattern covering over the whole ceiling. Green garlands were looped over the railings and low walls, embellished with small red bows and cinnamon sticks for a festive scent.

It was tasteful and festive. On Spencer desk was a small tree with tiny ornaments and a tiny star on top. Spencer had trees lined up with each individual who worked in the office's names on them and three metal buckets full of tiny little ornaments, small jingle bells and beads.

Spencer himself sat at his desk and just beamed.

Dave walked over.

"Care to be in charge every year?" He asked.

"I did good then?" Spencer asked.

"You can come do my house, too." Dave said. "We'll go shopping and then I'll feed you."

"This weekend?" Spencer asked.

"Get all your paper work done and we manage without a case coming in and we could start this evening."

Spencer flipped open the files on his desk and started working. Dave ran his hand over Reid's shoulders as he walked by and Spencer beamed a smile back to him. Spencer Reid was probably one of the best things he'd gotten used to after coming back to the BAU.


	11. Winter Lights

Title: Winter Lights  
Characters: Reid, Hotch  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 316  
Disclaimer: not mine, make no money off this  
Prompt: Dec 11 Fairy lights

A/N: Not Beta read, pre-slash if you squint

Spencer Reid was not fond of winter. He had little to no sense of balance on ice. He'd taken to packing a whole extra change of clothing into his satchel on days when he looked out his window and saw the nasty white stuff, otherwise known as snow.

He didn't like the sound of snow beneath his feet. He didn't like frozen toes or hands or cheeks or ears and his nose never got warm after he'd been out for more than like five minutes with it uncovered.

He hated dirty slush that got splashed up on his as he walked anywhere, and he could not drive in the snow…at all. OK, maybe he could, if he had to, but it was terrifying. He couldn't ski, or snow board, or skate, and snow mobiles were death traps, as were sleds.

However, when Jack begged him to accompany him and his dad on a evening drive out, towards non-city lights and into neighborhoods with houses, Spencer decided there might be one thing he didn't mind about winter.

He liked the lights, the way they twinkled and blinked and the way the colors and shadows play against the snow. He liked the riotous symphony of color that some homes displayed, but he really loved those houses which were one or two colors and looked a bit like a gingerbread house all trimmed neat and tidy.

And he liked the way Jack expressed his awe at certain displays and the way Hotch's eyes lit up at others, and how Jack insisted Spencer have the biggest cup of hot chocolate, with extra crushed candy canes because Spencer didn't get Hotch making him hot chocolate every day when it was cold out.

Most of all, Spencer liked when Jack asked if when it was spring he'd come on a ride with them again, to look at all the flowers in bloom.


	12. Play Along

Title: Play Along  
Characters: The whole crew  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 740  
Disclaimer: Not mine  
Prompt: dec 12 flying reindeer

A/N: not beta read

Before the team Christmas party (families included) started Hotch and JJ both pulled Reid aside and laid down the law.

Santa was real. Jolly old man, white beard, red suit, black boots, bag of toys, good girls and boys, ho-ho-ho and all that good stuff. Nothing more needed to be said.

If anyone asked about the nativity at Dave's house, he was to answer with Mary and Joseph, a donkey to a stable, baby in the manger and shepherds and angels and wise men.

Whatever he said about trees, wreaths, green and red, stars, candles, angels, and anything else had better be concise and simple and sticking with the traditional…more modern, not pre 1800 traditional…versions the boys might have heard before or might hear later.

Reid sighed and agreed. The eye twitching didn't start until later. Of course, they hadn't counted on Reid having issues before the children even started asking questions.

Morgan's current girlfriend was 'into' Christmas. And seemed to know all the legends of Christmas that plagued the internet, and were for the most part fabricated and false. Garcia just encouraged her and Morgan, having over heard the 'law' being set down, refused to allow Reid to refute any of the tales…rule 3.

So by the time dinner was over, and everyone was relaxing in the living room by the huge tree that Dave had had someone come in and decorate for him, Spencer was already a bit stressed.

The boys, seeing Spencer on the floor, ran over to join him and started asking for Reid to tell them about things. It started out non-Christmassy, ice age creatures and comic books, but soon turned to Santa.

"How old is Santa?" Henry asked.

"He is old, he has a white beard remember?" Reid answered.

"Did he have a white beard when Mommy was little?"

"Yes."

"How can he still deliver toys then? If he was old when mommy was little, then he should be way to old now. How long has he been delivering toys?"

"A long time." Reid answered, with the first twitch.

"But how long of a long time?"

A full face twitch and a reprieve from answering as Jack decided Henry was monopolizing the conversation.

"Since he's old how does he get all the toys everywhere?"

"His sleigh."

"Like the one we went on earlier this month, with Aunt Jessica?" Jack asked.

Reid looked to Hotch. "Sort of, but the one we went on was pulled by horses." Hotch answered. "Santa's is pulled by Reindeer."

"What's a reindeer look like?" Jack asked.

"We saw some at the zoo, remember?" Reid answered.

Jack did. He looked at Reid and snorted.

"Those were smaller than horses."

"They are."

"And they pull a big sleigh?" Jack asked.

And Reid eyes twitched and nose twitched and neck twitched and his face was getting scrunched up.

"Yes." Reid answered, in a strained voice.

"How?"

"Well, there are eight of them."

Jack looked at him.

"And they fly." Reid rushed out and then hung his head down on his chest, as if in shame.

"Santa has flying reindeer? Are you sure?"

"Uh-huh."

Jack was about to ask more when Reid promptly stood up. "I have to go….brush my teeth." He said, then left to the kitchen.

The boys looked at him confused, but shrugged their shoulders and went off to bug Garcia, who was sure to tell them more about Santa and his flying reindeer.

Hotch followed.

"I can't do it anymore!" Reid shouted, loud enough for everyone to turn and look their way.

Hotch led him to the back doors and out onto the patio.

"Santa as we know him was created in 1800, primarily by Clement Moore and Thomas Nast…"and Reid was off. He covered Santa and the 12 days of Christmas song which Morgan's girl had spouted off about. He covered Christmas trees, the day of the Christ child's birth - if the lad even ever existed, and candy canes. He spoke of solstice and Egypt and roman and Greek and even somehow china. He spoke of evergreens and wheat and gnomes and trolls and Hotch just smiled. He spoke of all the other little legends Morgan's girl gleeful shared and holly and ivy and mistletoe and finally yelled "And Reindeer do not fly!"

Reid's nose was red and his ears were red.

"Ok, we can go back in now." Reid said to Hotch. "When did you get your coat on?"

"Somewhere around Odin I think, it was rather early, or perhaps Mithras. I suspect we'll be ready for gifts when we get in. Hopefully they saved us dessert."


	13. Gift Exchange

Title: Gift Exchange  
Characters: Reid, Rossi  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 600+  
Disclaimer: Not Mine  
Prompt: dec 13 worst gift ever

A/N: not beta read…if any were they'd probably have better titles

Spencer was in agony.

All right, it might not have been that bad.

Then again.

Garcia had declared, and no one was going to argue, that for their Christmas exchange everyone needed a serious gift and a gag gift. He hated gag gifts….he hated getting them and he hated trying to give them. He never seemed to get joke…and no one seemed to get his when he tried. To make matters worse… he'd pulled Rossi's name.

He'd managed the serious gift, heck he'd managed two. But a gag gift? For Rossi?

However, Garcia had threatened him. It was a no win situation.

He'd been standing in the middle of the store he was in for a good forty minutes, hoping for inspiration.

"Hey Mister," A voice came from behind him. "Can I help you find something?"

Apparently, he'd been standing in the middle of the store too long. Spencer turned around.

The sales girl looked to be a bit younger than him.

"Opps, sorry kid."

Although she didn't seem to think so. Spencer raised his eyebrow at her.

"Um," the girl asked. "Can I help you?"

"I need a humorous gift."

"Huh?"

"Like a gag gift."

"Ohh. Oh! I know the perfect idea."

"But I haven't even told you who for."

"A guy?"

"Yes."

"Then I have the perfect idea!"

The girl pulled Spencer over to a display table filled with gift boxes, each holding a pair of briefs and a pair of sports socks.

"Isn't it hilarious?" The girl said as she giggled.

Spencer looked at her.

"You know? The worst gift ever? Like you hated getting as a kid?"

"People did?"

"Didn't you?"

"Not really."

"Oh. I still think it's the best idea."

Spencer sighed. Frankly, he had no better idea and she seemed to think it was funny. He found a set which wasn't too horrid a color combination (green and white….he was hoping to find one with plain white briefs but there weren't any) and the right size and bought them. For better or worse, it was done.

Rossi sat back and watched the presents being distributed. Oh, he knew Garcia had ordered serious and gag gifts, but he was certain he'd be spared. Face it, he had to be at least as scary as Garcia…scarier even.

Two gifts came to rest at his side, and then a third. He looked at the name of his gift giver. Reid.

About the only one who was probably more scared of Garcia than him.

Reid, who was already trying to hide - sliding behind Hotch and trying to manage to slide behind the chair.

Rossi was sitting four from Morgan, who started the gift opening, so his turn came about sooner rather than later.

Hotch had grabbed Reid's collar and was holding him in place.

The first gift was a set of crystal snowflakes…for the tree or to hang in a window apparently as both ideas were displayed on the packaging. They were very nice. The second was a season pass to the Smithsonian museums and a list of all the free lectures and shows that they offered, held in the arms of a stuffed Kangaroo with joey in pouch.

It could be Reid's idea of a gag gift…but then again, Reid was over across from him nearly hyperventilating.

Rossi reached for the third gift.

Reid whimpered.

Rossi looked at Morgan's blinking reindeer nose, which Garcia had placed on him. He looked at Blake's bow tie and top hat, which had turned out a pretty good gag gift if he did say so himself. He looked at JJ's road kill cook book…which was a wee bit disturbing.

He opened his gift and tilted his head. His shoulder started to shake. He couldn't help it, he laughed.

Reid looked up in astonishment.

"Good Job, kid." Rossi told him. He showed them the gift and everyone else started laughing to.

Reid sighed in relief, but Rossi heard him whisper to Hotch "I still don't get it."


	14. Change Of Traditions

Title: Change of Traditions  
Characters: Hotchners and Reids  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 1200+  
Disclaimer: not Mine  
Prompt: Dec 14 naughty or nice

A/N: not beta read

Thanksgiving had been wonderful. Aaron Hotchner had spent it in the company of his brother and his son. With his own family, for the first time in years. Well, what there was of it that would talk to him.

Sean had come down from New York and had made everything for the meal. Jack was there and Sean had let him help. Sure, his mom hadn't come, but then his mom hadn't come to anything he asked her to since he divorced Haley, including Haley's funeral.

Have you put out the naughty or nice poster yet?" Sean asked Aaron as they sat down after cleaning up from dinner. Jack was lying out on his tummy playing with cars and blocks.

"For God's sake, no. That was a horrid thing." Aaron replies, his mind immediately going back to the poster displayed front and center on their living room wall while growing up, with gold stars or black checks lining up as the days passed.

Sean laughed.

"I never did figure it out either. What type of behavior got us a gold star and what got us a check." Sean said.

"That's because there never was any standard for it. Face it, you got a gold star when you stole Mrs. Preston's wallet and all their Christmas money and another gold star for refusing to give it back." Aaron said.

"And you got black checks for taking it away from me and returning it. Mom said they were for making me cry."

"Yes, well. I always got black checks for that, it was about the only constant."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry you know." Sean said after a while.

"I know Sean, I have known for a while." Aaron said.

"And I do know what you did, what you put yourself through, to keep me happy and safe."

Aaron looked at Sean. Their birth father had died when Sean was five, and Aaron had hoped that Sean had no memories of him. Their step-father had doted on Sean, who was still little enough to soak it up and not wonder what the cost was going to be. He'd catered to Sean's every wish and whim for the almost 12 years before he too passed away. It had been hard for Aaron to watch and harder still to live. His mother, having gotten used to Aaron being to blame for everything…protecting her and her small son from her first husband, decided not to change that way of being. Sean got bad grades? Somehow Aaron was to blame, even when he was out of the state. He was used to it. He was still used to it.

"What did mom say when you told her you were going to be here?" Aaron finally asked.

Sean laughed. "Jillian was bringing a girl for me to meet. Mother was quite irate I wasn't going to be there to meet her."

"All of Rex's children going to be there?" Aaron asked. Rex was his mother's third husband, and he had four children from his first wife. Their mother adored all four, and doted on her 'grandchildren' from them excessively. She took them on trips and paid for their dance or sports or other lessons. She was always giving them gifts.

"Always." Sean said.

Jack looked up and giggled. "Daddy! Is it almost time?"

Aaron looked to the clock. "It is, come on and I'll open the lap top."

Sean looked at him quizzically.

"Did you ever meet Spencer Reid?" Aaron asked.

"Skinny young dude? Works for you? Smart one? Long hair?"

"That's the one." Aaron said. "He writes his mother every day. Every day. He mentioned Jack in one of the letters and how he was sad Jack wasn't getting the experience of a grandmother at this age, let alone a mother. Diana Reid wrote me the day after she got Reid's letter. Every Thursday night, when she is well enough, one of her doctors helps her link up with us on Skype and she reads Jack a story. Spencer usually comes to listen if we are here; because she reads Jack kids' books…she did not read Spencer kids' books when he was a kid."

"Where is he tonight?" Sean asked.

"In Las Vegas with him mom."

As soon as Skype was up and running, the call from Diana Reid came through. Reid waved from the back ground and Diana was smiling.

"Hello, Sir Jack. I have had a wonderful day with my Spencer. Did you have a wonderful day with you father and uncle?" Diana Reid said.

"I did! Uncle Sean is a real honest to goodness cook and he cooked our meal!" Jack said.

"Really. What an honor to be in his presence. Do you remember what we have been reading?" Diana asked.

Jack smiled. "We are reading fairy tales and folk tales! Last week was Rapunzel."

"We are. This week I'm going to tell you about the twelve dancing princesses. Ready?"

Jack nodded and Diana told her story. As she finished, she pulled another book from her lap.

"Today was a special day and so I'm going to read you one more story. In fact, I'll read you one extra story every Thursday for the next month."

Diana Reid proceeded to read Jack a story about a Christmas Quilt a girl and her grandmother made together.

"Spencer will bring you a treat when he goes home and help you with it. It won't work like the one in the story, but he'll tell you other ways to have it work just as good." Diana said as she finished the story.

Jack smiled and told her thank you and Reid waved again before they all logged off.

Aaron put Jack to bed and went back to sit and relax with Sean some more.

"That's a much better thing to see than a naughty or nice poster." Sean said.

"It is."

"How does it work when you aren't here?" Sean asked.

"Jessica gets him on or Garcia comes over to help them. They both look forward to it almost as much as Jack does."

"And you?"

Aaron leaned back. "Reid writes his mother every day. Some of it, I know, is still guilt. But I never understood his devotion and why he felt guilty until she wrote and offered up an evening of her time every week for one small boy. Furthermore, she is determined to be well enough to do this. She's even been lucid enough to write another paper and have it published. But it is because she wants one small boy to have some woman in his life that does some grandmother things with him. I see why Reid writes his mother every day. If I'd a mother like that, even hidden deep under illness and pain, one I'd seen even a few times…I'd write her every day too."

"I would too." Sean said. "I wonder what she is sending home with Reid."

Aaron smiled. "Spencer is heading back tomorrow. If you stay for the whole weekend you'll be sure to see."

"I wouldn't be imposing?" Sean asked.

"Never. You're my brother and I want you here as much as you can be."

"Really?" Sean asked.

"Really. I am proud of you, you know. I know I was a …yeah… for a while, but I realized when I came back to the BAU that one had to do what one loved if they could."

Sean smiled. "Thank you. I wonder what next week's story will be."

Aaron smiled back. "You know, Garcia showed me how to record the Skype sessions. I could forward them to you."


	15. A Santa Miracle

Title: A Santa Miracle  
Characters: The team  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: Not Mine  
Prompt: Dec 15 Christmas morning

A/N: not beta read

Spencer Reid rolled over and the shot right into a sitting position. The jostling of the woke Spencer's bed mates, two smaller beings who answered to Henry and Jack.

All three looked around them in wonder and delight.

"Santa made it." Henry whispered in awe.

Frankly, Spencer was just as astonished. Because everyone was still at Hotch's house after a blizzard started the evening before during their team Christmas party, a full six hours ahead of what the news reports had predicted. It had been cloudy and nasty looking when everyone had gathered at the Hotchner's house after work (their team had had thanksgiving off but not the Christmas holidays…even today they were on call but Strauss had agreed that they would only have to go in if they had a case come in…however she wanted them in office the 24th and the 26th, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.), but by the time they'd finished dinner an hour and half later there were already eight inches of snow and Hotch called to see what the conditions were for traveling and then informed everyone they were all sitting tight. Henry was beside himself when he realized all his presents were at home, and Will even went out to try to dig out their car, but came back in and informed JJ they wouldn't be leaving after all…he had had trouble even seeing as he tried to get to the car.

Rossi and Hotch had looked at each other after that and soon had camp gear and stuff pulled in from the garage. Rossi had Hotch pulled up his grill, praising him for listening to Rossi and buying the kind of gas grill that could be used year round and not have had put it away for the winter. JJ set up a camp stove so they could use it for water and such if the power went out. Will and Morgan filled coolers with water for drinking and Garcia and Blake set about making sure there were snacks and such made ahead of time that could be eaten if the power went out, all the while Garcia was chatting on her phone. Hotch charged up all the devices everyone had and filled up air mattresses so everyone would end up with somewhere to sleep. They located flashlights and candles, board and card games and books to read. Everyone decided that all gift opening would be done the next morning, on Christmas morning, even if Santa didn't manage to find his way. The power had gone out before it even got past 8pm.

Santa had somehow made it, though. The power didn't seem to be back on, but the lights on the tree sparkled. Stockings, loads of them, hung around the room, filled to the brim and the tree was piled with gifts beneath it.

Sitting front and center before the fireplace, which was lit and cheer and radiating heat, were two sleds and two snow fort kits and new boots and gloves for each boy. A train set had Jack's name on it and sitting with Henry's name was a set of wooden blocks.

"Spencer, how did Santa get here if we couldn't get home?" Henry asked.

Spencer had no answer, because he was pretty darn certain the things sitting beneath the stocking which had his name on it hadn't been there the night before, not when JJ was in tears worrying that Henry would be upset in the morning, nor when Hotch received the call from Jessica that Jack's Santa gift was going to be stuck at her place until at least the next afternoon…long past time for Santa to come. Furthermore he wasn't sure when the stuff could have gotten where it was because he and the boys had been asleep on the air mattress all night and Spencer wasn't a sound sleeper.

"I guess because he's Santa." Spencer finally answered.

Jack laughed and hugged Henry and Spencer and got off the bed. He took off up the stairs yelling at the top of his lungs that Santa had come.

Spencer watched as everyone came into the living room and became more certain with each look of wonder and awe that Hotch and JJ and Will had not been the ones to create the Christmas Morning Miracle. It hadn't been Rossi, nor Morgan or Blake. Then Spencer thought to look towards the one person who slept in the living room with him and the boys and he knew who their Christmas Miracle worker was. Garcia shared the same look of wonder as they rest of them, but hers was at watching the faces of her loved ones as they entered into the room.

The morning was spent dumping out stockings, one for each person in the house and each filled with oranges and apples, candy, key chains, nail clippers and combs, pencils and pens and other little tidbits and opening the gifts that had been placed for each of them under each stocking. Each person had received a different card game and some sort of stuffed animal and some other little item, things which had included mouse pads and music cards or books. There were nearly a dozen different board games beribboned and waiting as well.

Then Morgan got the boy all decked out in their gear and himself dressed as warm as he could and took the boys out to the back yard to play in the snow and Rossi and JJ cooked breakfast using the camp stove.

Garcia went over and cranked some more on the small hand crank generator that she had the tree lights plugged into and Spencer followed.

"How?" he asked

Garcia laughed.

"It's Christmas, baby boy." She said and tweaked Spencer's nose. She'd known Reid would be the first to figure out she'd been the one to manage it. Hotch was still so relieved he hadn't started to worry yet. Spencer looked like he was about to protest but Garcia put her arm around his shoulder. "Sweetie, I'll tell you later, let's just enjoy what we have now."

Everyone had oatmeal for breakfast, and scrambled eggs and fired potatoes and bacon. Rossi showed Hotch how to cook roasts and hams out on the grill, as well as bake potatoes. After the meat was started, everyone gather to open gifts. Will had made it out to the car that morning and located a bunch of presents for Henry that hadn't made it to the house (most of his gifts, actually, as they'd had early opening issues that year and everything that wouldn't be harmed by the cold and wasn't socks and underwear had been residing in the trunk). The mysterious Santa had left gifts for all the adults present, as well as the kids. Everyone ended up with DC sweatshirts and t-shirts, coffee mugs stuffed with gourmet coffees, bags with three bins of hot chocolate mixes, bath & lotion sets, and cheese and summer sausage sets. There were even movies for everyone. Spencer had to giggle when he opened Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and The Goonies. Both ones he didn't own. Hotch and Rossi both received a few James Bond movies a piece. He hadn't been sitting close enough t see which movies the other got, but everyone seemed happy with them. They exchanged their gifts to each other.

After opening gifts, Garcia and Hotch both started phoning people. Rossi, Morgan and Will got dressed up warm and started walking down the blocks, knocking on doors and seeing how neighbors were fairing. Hotch was on his phone with the local police force and checking road conditions. Garcia was doing so as well, at a much more efficient rate. Blake and JJ had started cooking what they could and Spencer was left with the task of entertaining the boys.

They opened board games. Spencer taught the boys how to play Sorry and Parcheesi and Mancala and Yahtzee. They even played scrabble and checkers. Everyone started gathering back together while Spencer was starting to teach the boys how to play chess.

"The roads to this area will be clear by two pm," Hotch said as Rossi and he brought in the cooked roast and ham. "Power should be back up around that time as well."

"That fellow Hooper, down the end of the road has hooked a snow plow to his four-wheeler. They were supposed to have taken it to the storage facility later this week, he thinks the fact they never managed earlier is a minor miracle. He'll have this road plowed as best he can by that time. He was working paths to the churches first. Both nearby Catholic churches and the Methodists and one of the Baptist churches nearby kept their old coal furnaces after switching to other heating methods for cases like this and were taking in folks last night who had no other heating methods for their homes." Rossi added. "Sounded like the Presbyterian minister guy got together a good calling tree type thing going and even though his church couldn't warm people they helped organize."

They ate their dinner, the small boys completely impressed with what they'd managed without power and not long after they were done the lights came back on. Will and JJ looked out the window to see a man on a four-wheeler plowing the snow clear enough that their cars could get out to the bigger streets, where they could see the bigger plows at work.

The teamed founds boxes in which to gather up everyone's loot. Spencer asked what to do with the board games and Rossi suggested the split them between his place and Hotch's, since that was where most team gatherings took place. Rossi packed up ones he didn't already have (Sorry and Mancala), and Hotch put the other in the hall closet to join the only board games he owned after a purge of board games early in his marriage…Memory, Candy Land, and Chutes and Ladders. Slowly everyone started to head out until only Spencer, Garcia and Rossi were left.

Jack was settled in front of the TV with a new movie on.

"Spencer," Garcia said. "I'll give you a ride home."

In the car Spencer asked how she had managed, again.

"Last night, when JJ started to cry," Garcia said. "It near broke my heart. I mean, I had some low Christmases in my life. Before my mom remarried there were times when it was hard, but I never had a nothing Christmas and I couldn't stand that happening to my babies all because of a silly storm. I sent out a text complaining about how unfair things were. You know the internet. A friend of a friend noted where my complaint came from. That church three blocks down? That friend sent them a note, he's the pastor of her sister who lives in the area. The note had my phone number so they could get in touch with me if they could help. Spencer, you wouldn't believe the timing. The pastor called me late last night, right at the time Jessica called. Their youth group collected items all the last three months to put towards gift packages for the needy in their congregation and then when those were filled to other groups needing gift items. They collected food for baskets. One collection point didn't make it to the church early enough. Maybe the people bringing it got caught in the storm. They received a large donation yesterday afternoon, just hours after they'd sent their last boxes out to those in need. He called and just asked what I needed."

"Just asked?"

"He just asked. He was on the phone and called me dearie and asked what I needed, just as I heard Hotch make the most pitiful sound I've ever heard him make. I swear the noise he made when Jessica told him Jack's santa gift was stuck with her was even worse than what I heard from him when he came upon Haley. That was a sound of immense grief but this was the sound of a father who felt he'd failed too often. I didn't ask for much Reid. I asked if he had just enough, just enough for two little boys. He asked about their ages and likes and such and said he'd have someone run over a few items. I thought that was that, you know. And believe me, it was plenty."

"So how did we all end up with that?" Spencer asked.

"He called my friend; the one who called him to start off with and told her he'd contacted me. During their conversation he complained about being worried about getting hold of all his flock before the power went out. My friend told him that he'd just been talking to the single person who had a chance of helping him do that and so he got on the phone and called me back. I told him I had access and still would have access to the internet after the power went off, and had him email me a list of his flock with phone numbers and cell numbers and email. I sent out mass emails, and then started out sending mass texts, each telling people to get water to drink and gather ways to stay warm in case the power went out, or if they couldn't to head to a local place that offered warm shelter. Then we started calling each number as well. There were like ten people with him calling, too. We called and made sure they were safe and then told them to call family and neighbors not in his flock to check on them. I called him back every twenty names and gave him the names of those who were in need some way. There were even a few more cases like our, where Christmas Eve gatherings were unable to get home and needed Santa gifts. Before the power went out we'd managed everyone but like ten names, and I managed those right off. He called and thanked me and we started talking about how come I was even in the area. I told him about our team party and why I had access and was able to what I did and told him if he needed anything to remember I would still be able to help because our stuff is set up to not rely entirely on power. Then he asked who all was here and about everyone. Over the course of the night, I'd get calls from people who hadn't got water set aside or ended up too cold and I'd get the message to the pastor. Between those of us working we managed to get water to those who didn't have a chance to store any or get those who had no way of heating to the churches where they could be warm."

"So that's why you were doing so poorly at that trivia game." Spencer said. "And why you asked if I was going to be using my laptop."

"Yeah, I figured Hotch and some of the other might have wanted theirs for movies or something later."

"How did all of that get to us though?" Spencer asked.

"I was worried, for a little bit. No one had come our way yet by midnight and we'd settled the kids down. I knew several times people had headed our way with treats, but each time I'd had to send them to someone in need. We'd chatted till late and I finally saw you settle into sleep. You sleep quite deeply about an hour after to fall asleep, did you know? At about three am I heard a knock on the door and met the pastor and three helpers. They had had a break in the calls from those in need and made it our way at last. They handed me three huge bags of goodies. They'd been to dozens of houses making sure kids had Christmas this morning."

"Did they send the stockings and such, too?" Spencer asked.

Garcia snorted. "Did you know that Haley decorated in a different theme each year? All new stockings, tree skirts, ornaments, all new wreaths and garlands even. Hotch could decorate fifteen or twenty Christmas rooms. She coordinated wrapping paper to their new themes. Next year, we are running a wrapping booth at one of the local craft fairs and donating the money, seriously. They never used the extra; she just boxed it up and stored it. Jessica showed me the stuff when I helped her decorate for our team party. So I went out and hit the stocking bin and filled stockings and set out gifts….all were wrapped except the card games, labeled with sizes or colors or ages. It was just a task of writing a name and slapping it over the labels."

"It was pretty amazing waking up to that." Spencer said. "Penelope, you make a great Santa's helper."

"Aw, thanks, sweet cheeks. You gonna be fine at home for the rest of the day?" Garcia asked Reid.

"I'll be good. I got to spend much more of Christmas with my important people than I had hoped already. Besides, I have some treats to deliver. Have to make the rounds of my apartment before Christmas in completely done."

They chatted about all sorts of things over the rest of the car ride, going slowly and watching as the streets were cleared and people ventured out. Secretly, Spencer was glad for the snow storm that buried them in. It had been the first time in a long time he'd felt like Christmas wasn't just there.


	16. Chestnuts

Title: Chestnuts  
Characters: the whole crew  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 190  
Disclaimer: not mine  
Prompt: dec 16 chestnuts roasting on an open fire

A/N: not beta read

Rossi brought the first batch to the office. They were in a brown paper bag and everyone showed up in his office to come and try a few, following the scent as it spread.

Hotch brought in the second and third rounds. Garcia bugged them both until they told her where they'd bought them, and founds four through seven were brought into the building by Garcia.

Reid was the surprise though. He didn't bring them into the office, he hand delivered an invitation to a team get together, held in Hotch's backyard. Jessica provided the fire bowl.

Reid taught them all how to roast their own chestnuts over an open fire. He gave histories and cited works other than 'the song' featuring chestnuts (and other nuts). He helped the boys learn the Christmas Song and told tales about other parts in the song.

And Hotch had to call back Jack's school to ease the tension between Jack and his teacher after Jack told her he'd roasted chestnuts over his weekend and she didn't believe him and promise to bring a batch of roasted chestnuts by the school the next day.


	17. Appreciation

Title: Appreciation  
Characters: Hotch, Reid  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 400  
Disclaimer: not mine nor do I make any money off this  
Prompt: Dec 17

A/N: not beta read

A local detective from one of the cases they worked out somewhere in the western states once asked Hotch how he could stand working with Reid day in and day out.

Granted, it was one of Reid's chatty days, he was trying to piece together the crimes and find the non-obvious patterns in his head and when Reid is working things out that way he tends to do one of several things, and since the station lacked spinning chairs and he had two fingers still in a cast from an accident he'd had trying to fix his vehicle (before he gave in and took it to the shop) the chattering was what they were left with.

It didn't help the detective himself had sent Reid off to interview not only the local town historian, but local paranormal enthusiast. It stuck with Hotch though, and sometimes it echoed in his mind when Spencer spoke on and on.

However, Hotch found himself grateful for Spencer Reid as being a single parent settled in and Jack got older.

Yeah, with a name like Hotchner, he probably ought to have known the story of Chanukah. But they'd been Lutheran, and his mother, although she never took them to church; never let them learn about any of those other religions. So when Jack came home from school asking about it…Hotch had the answer.

"Jack, let's call Spencer."

Ten minutes later Jack was sitting with the phone on speaker and he and his dad were both taking notes as Spencer told them all about Chanukah, and other related histories and tales. When the call was over and all note taking reformatted into a short paper that Jack could take to school and share from, Hotch picked up Jack and started to get him ready for the next day. They set out his clothing and filled his backpack.

"You know what day?" Jack said.

"What?"

"You are so lucky. You get Spencer every day. I wish I could have him with me every day. I would bring him to school with me and he could make my lessons so much more interesting and tell us all the really interesting stuff that we often don't get to hear."

The next time a local law enforcement officer commented on Reid's tendency to tell everyone details about seemingly random things, Hotch just smiled.

"I know; isn't it wonderful. I guess I am just the lucky one here."


	18. To The Ballet

Title: To the Ballet  
Characters: the whole crew  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 386  
Disclaimer: Not mine  
Prompt: dec 18 nutcracker

A/N: not beta read

Spencer Reid actually fell off his desk chair when Derek Morgan informed the team that he'd never seen the Nutcracker ballet. Luckily Emily Prentiss was there to right him and no harm was done.

"Not even as a movie?" Reid asked.

"Nope."

"The cartoon?" Reid asked again.

Morgan shook his head.

Hotch ought not to have been surprised when tickets to a local dance school's rendition of the ballet showed up on their desks, with extras in case anyone wanted to bring family or friends.

Hotch decided he and Jack would show up. He didn't want Jack injuring one of his co-workers one day by causing them to fall off their chair in astonishment.

He was surprised when he got there that JJ had brought Henry, who was just two.

"A child is never too young to start attending performances," was all JJ would say.

Morgan showed, without a date and Emily showed with a man Garcia started whispering to Reid about. Everyone was there, though, and Reid was beaming at being able to suggest a gathering and have people show to it. Rossi showed with several young people and a few bouquets of flowers (ended up his sister's husband's cousin's middle girls were dancers.)

Hotch was surprised at how much Jack enjoyed the performance. He was amazed at how much he enjoyed the performance. Even Henry liked it. The fact the cast was mostly young people probably helped with Henry, and that the little dancers tended to run up to see their parents randomly and so were entertaining even if what was going on stage wasn't too entertaining for the toddler.

At the end of the performance as they gathered to talk and waited for Rossi to gather the children he had with him and the flowers to give the dancers he knew, even Morgan said he was glad he had seen the ballet and everyone agreed the dance company had done an excellent job for a small studio and a non-professional group.

As they gathered to greet the dancers after the show, Hotch got an even bigger surprise as dancers and their teachers started squealing as the exited the auditorium as a team.

They rushed the man who was Prentiss' date, a friend of her mother's…and one of the leads of the Washington Ballet.


	19. Yule Log

Title: Yule Log  
Characters: the whole crew  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 470  
Disclaimer: not mine  
Prompt: dec 19 yule log

A/N: not beta read

Garcia brought it in and Reid saw her. She winked, took her present to the conference room and set it in the middle of the table. Then she came down and sat next to Reid, angling their chairs so they could watch.

JJ walked by first and got all the way to Hotch's office before turning around and coming back to stare into the door. She tilted her head and scratched her jaw and then went back to Hotch's office, stating loud enough to carry through the bullpen "There's some wood in the conference room."

Reid and Garcia giggled and then went back to watching as Rossi walked towards Hotch's office as well with a stack of file folders. He initially walked by, as well, but he back tracked much sooner and actually went in and leaned over to smell the item on table. He walked back out whistling and smiling cheerfully. He looked towards Garcia and pointed. She nodded and he signed 'I love you' her way.

"Well, Rossi apparently appreciates a good tradition." She said.

"I've never actually seen or had one before, is it supposed to look so life like?" Reid asked.

"The company I got it from specializes in realistic creations." Garcia explained.

They noticed the activity in Hotch's office and so moved to the conference room before the rest could get there.

"We have a case….conference room now!" Hotch called to portion of his team not heading that way.

Reid and Garcia were sitting on the far side of the table so they could see the others coming in.

Hotch and JJ came in first. JJ pointed to the table. "See, there is wood in the conference room."

Rossi snorted and sat over beside Reid and Garcia.

"JJ, I am absolutely certain no one had put wood in the conference…" Hotch was saying before he looked at the table.

He stood still and tilted his head as he caught sight of the center of the table. Blake and Morgan came in right behind him and Blake look around Hotch to see what the holdup was.

"Ah! Buche de Noel! Can we eat it before we go?" Blake exclaimed.

Morgan looked around them.

"Eat a log?" he asked.

Garcia finally laughed.

"It's a yule log!"

"I thought you burned those." Hotch muttered.

Reid went to speak but Garcia put her fingers over his mouth.

"Some you do. This one you eat." Rossi said.

"But it is a log." JJ said. "And mushrooms."

"It's cake! Rolled and cream filled!" Reid said.

"I had the bakers use a double fill, a cream layer and a raspberry jam on tops that." Garcia told Reid.

"So what? It's like a giant Ho-Ho?" Asked Morgan.

Everyone laughed and Hotch agreed they had time to eat some before they reviewed the case.


	20. The Best Part of the Season

Title: The best part of the season  
Characters: Morgan  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 122  
Disclaimer: not mine  
Prompt: dec 20 Christmas cookies

A/N: not beta read

Morgan's favorite part of December at work was the fact that people baked in December.

There were cookies in the break room, always. Often different types in different bins, open with notes telling people to take one.

Garcia and JJ and even Reid always had more cookies in the conference room (and who would have guessed Reid baked cookies? Really. ) and those were just the teams. Morgan noticed Reid only ever left his offerings there, as if he was nervous anyone not from the team would make fun of him still.

Cookies…chocolate chip, peppermint, lemon, brownies, sugar cookies frosted in bright colors.

Cookies…with butterscotch chips, bars with gooey chocolate and oats, peanut butter with kisses.

Morgan loved December at the office.


	21. Sweet Goodness

Title: Sweet Goodness  
Pairing: gen  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 250  
Disclaimer: The characters within do not belong to me.  
Prompt: dec 21 mulled cider

Reid drank coffee. Or rather, Reid drank sugar with coffee and cream added to it. It was one of those things that just was. Hotch was completely certain that when people within the FBI spoke of his team, the spoke of Reid as that genius kid who always has the coffee.

Except for the last few weeks, Spencer's mug didn't smell like coffee when he came in in the mornings.

No, the boy was drinking mulled cider and he wasn't bringing in enough to share!

The scent would float up, from Spencer desk to Hotch's office. It over powered the scent of Hotch's coffee. It overpowered everything!

Finally, at the end of the second week, Hotch had had enough. He stomped down to Reid.

"Mulled Cider?!" Hotch hissed.

"Um, it doesn't have any alcohol in it! I kept the rum out!" Reid sputtered and then watched as Hotch drew in a deep breath and lost his grumpy look for one of near ecstasy.

"Where's your coffee?" Hotch asked.

"It's not like I don't drink coffee during the rest of the day." Reid said.

"I thought you needed the coffee to be prepared to think well?" Hotch pushed.

"I have a cup of coffee at home while I get ready for work." Reid answered. Hotch was still sniffing the air.

Hotch huffed. "Fine!" and pretty much stomped back to his office.

Monday found a crockpot in the conference room, filled with mulled cider to share and a much more cheerful boss.


	22. The Snowmen

Title: The Snowmen

Characters: team  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 668  
Disclaimer: The characters within do not belong to me  
Prompt: dec 22 snowman

A/N: a bit creepy again, sorry. Also not beta read. Written before I knew there was a creepy snowmen Dr. Who episode, as well, which is still waiting for me to watch it.

Reid made sure to walk between Rossi and Morgan as the hiked in to their more recent crime scene.

It was a quarter mile hike, and lining the whole trail were snowmen, standing like sentinels.

It was even worse when they got to the crime scene. It was encircled by snowmen, all the same height. Coal eyes all looking at the bloody center.

Coal eyes all looking at them, watching them.

Hotch waved them to join him near the center, where the body had been found.

Spencer looked at the snowmen on either side of him, placed so the seemed to be turning towards facing the center instead of facing each other. He shivered, and it wasn't from the cold.

"Reid, are you joining us?" Hotch yelled and Spencer forced himself to step into the ring of snowmen.

"So does everyone agree this was probably where she was killed, and not a dump site?" Hotch asked.

All those present nodded, except Spencer who was constantly scanning the snowmen and scooting closer and closer to Hotch.

"Morgan, see if you can see any other foot prints or anything. The sheriff said the officers that responded and first went over the site were very freaked out, so they might have missed something. Rossi, call Blake and see if she had info from the coroner yet. Reid, help me figure out the diameter of the kill site and this ring."

Morgan and Rossi got to the tasks right off but Reid just stood, eye wide and fear filled face.

"Reid!" Hotch yelled.

Spencer jumped and inched closer to Hotch again.

"The diameter of the kill site?" Hotch asked.

Reid looked down. "The blood is in a perfect circle." Reid muttered and shuddered. "That is so not natural."

"Diameter and then ideas on how the unsub managed it." Hotch said.

Reid swept his eyes along each of the snowmen watching them and then at the blood.

"The snowmen are in a perfect circle, too." Reid said. He looked to the opening in the ring of snowmen, the two slightly turned and leading to the path lined with snowmen facing each other.

"The circle of blood is the same diameter as the wide between the snowmen on either side of the path, four feet. It might not be just the single victim's blood, the unsub might have needed more blood to get a solid four foot circle of blood. Can we go yet? They are looking at us."

"They are snowmen; they are not looking at us. As to those….up before the kill?"

"I would think they would have to be. It took a lot of time to do this." Reid said.

Reid was now standing against Hotch's back, completely plastered against him. "Please can we go now?"

Hotch sighed. "Rossi, help Morgan and then you two head in with the Sheriff and his people when you all are done. Reid and I are going in now to see if we can link this to the other murders and start a geographical profile."

Rossi waved and Hotch and Reid left, Reid plastered up against his back and watching the snowmen with terror filled eyes. When they got back to the SUVs, Reid jumped in and the moment Hotch had joined him, locked the doors.

"Really?" Hotch asked as they pulled off onto the dirt road that led them out to the road back to town.

Reid was still shivering, and he wasn't entirely certain it was from just the cold.

"Hey, Rossi hates clowns and Morgan wouldn't even enter that corn maze in October." Reid said.

"They were snowmen, Spencer!"

"They were looking at us! They were terrifying!" Reid said.

Hotch looked through the back window to the snowmen facing where the path met with the road and the other vehicles were still parked. They were the only snowmen with arms as well, and long sharp sticks tangled in the arm branches to look like spears.

"They were kind of creepy." Hotch agreed.


	23. Traditions

Title: Traditions  
Characters: Team  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 370  
Disclaimer: The characters within do not belong to me  
Prompt: dec 23 Christmas candles

A/N: not beta read

Aaron Hotchner pulled out his December list and started marking off the yearly antics pulled by his team that made December in the BAU offices what it was.

Garcia had disabled the fire alarms so to burn her Christmas candles, and lit them right up without checking the first Monday after the first weekend and set off the fire alarm and made everyone have to evacuate until the floor could be cleared.

Morgan had rigged Mistletoe over Reid's desk and then made Reid kiss everyone who came to talk to him…and tackled Reid as he tried to remove the mistletoe, sending Reid flying off the desk and crashing to the floor and sending him off for a check over at the academy infirmary. Thankfully the blood was contained to the desk and chair this year and no one had to pay to have the carpets professionally cleaned like last year.

JJ had already screamed like a banshee after walking into the conference room and tossed a whole plateful of cookies into the trash, because all the evil temptations were ruining her good intentions. Morgan bellowed quickly afterwards about how horrid and demented JJ was for daring to do such a thing to the wonderful cookies. Garcia, luckily has faced this many years now and no longer hacks into financial records after such behavior. She just sweeps in with a replacement plate of cookies.

Rossi has a crock pot of Muller Cider in his office, rum mulled cider.

Reid has been wearing Christmas Socks for two weeks.

Garcia's hat this week is an elf hat. Last week was a blinking Reindeer headband.

Blake is a new addition. So far, Hotch has notice she tends to jingle. She doesn't wear the big jingle bells like Garcia. But she wears little ones that have a soft jingle to them. Ear rings mostly.

They've covered half Hotch's list so far. But it is only the second Wednesday of December, so there is still time.

He wonders if Morgan will remember to tie Reid to his chair with big red or gold ribbon. If he doesn't pick up that antic up, Hotch might have to himself. Then take a picture and send it to Emily.


	24. Mistletoe Appreciation

Title: Mistletoe Appreciation

Characters: Reid  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 260ish  
Disclaimer: The characters within do not belong to me  
Prompt: dec 24 mistletoe

A/N: not beta read

Mistletoe had always sat rather high on the list of things Spencer Reid really didn't like about Christmas season.

They never really had it around his house growing up, although his mom always said his dad had it hanging pretty much everywhere at his work. It took several years before he figured out what his mom was accusing his dad of. It took another year and an impromptu stop at his dad's work to realize his mom might have been right and that particular rant probably wasn't paranoia.

It wasn't a popular thing to keep around grade schools, nor was it allowed in the junior high he attended. High schools was his first real experience with the plant and well, let's just say all experiences with in in high school were so bad he was never ever sharing. If fact he preferred to not even think about it.

Winter breaks were always spent home, with his mom, while he attended university. It wasn't until he joined the FBI he really ever had any reason to think about Mistletoe.

Garcia caught him under it first. She covered his face in kisses, leaving bright pink marks that Gideon washed off before could be seen by anyone outside their team. He wasn't fond of attack kisses though and the plant wasn't endearing. He let himself be caught by Garcia once a year though. It made her happy.

It wasn't until he'd been working with the BAU for nearly eight years that anyone else ever caught him under the blasted plant…and Reid considered it not such a horrid bit of green after all.


	25. Peace

Title: Peace  
Characters: Hotch/ Reid  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 179  
Disclaimer: The characters within do not belong to me  
Prompt: dec 25 sunshine on winter morning

A/N: not beta read

Peace wasn't something Spencer Reid often felt, really. He worried too much and thought too much and had been through and seen too much.

But rolling over and looking out through the tall windows of the cabin they were renting for their 'Christmas' holiday (two weeks after Christmas, which had been spent trying to stop a spree killer in Ohio) Spencer felt settled and contented and at peace. He was enjoying this time together they were able to grab. The they being Hotch and himself.

It was their first time going away, just the two of them. Jack was staying with his aunt and their whole team was off on vacation.

The sun was shining and glistening off the snow. The trees were marvelous in their frosted glory. Spencer was warm and snug and comfortable spooned against the best part of his life. Hotch's soothing breath was on Spencer's neck and his strong arms were around him.

And there was no where they had to go and nothing bad they had to see, not for three more whole days.


	26. The Reason for the Season

Title: Reason for the Season  
Characters: Team  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 370  
Disclaimer: The characters within do not belong to me  
Prompt: dec 26 nativity

A/N: not beta read

Strauss, of all people, joined the "reason for the season" bandwagon this year, and frankly not many of Hotchner's BAU team were amused, or impressed.

Reid had actually bitten through his lip during one of her "sharing times" as she regaled them all with what decorations "really' meant, in terms of the real Christmas and not what all those non-believers would have you believe. Hotch was pretty certain he'd seen Spencer shred the little print outs they'd received attached to candy canes and pretzels and all sorts of other little things.

However, Hotch still insisted that what topped off the whole peculiarity of the ordeal were the gifts that each team member received.

Nativities.

Rossi's was classic, Italian looking. He said it reminded him of the one his momma put up that they were allowed to touch…as opposed to her good one, that cost a lot and no one could even look to closely at with the pieces that came from Italy and the new piece added each year.

JJ's was a child's set…plastic and durable. Haley had bought the same set for Jack when he was just a year.

Blake's had a folk art feel to it, all the clothing elements having a patch-worked look.

Morgan's was made of wood, carved figures with rather remarkable detail to them.

Garcia's nativity was populated by bears, and a camel and a donkey and sheep. But instead of people, she had bears.

Hotch's own was in metal, brass. The holy family and the manger piece, the three wise men and the camel piece, and a third piece containing shepherds and sheep.

He didn't know what Reid's was…it was still sitting unopened on Reid's desk. He poked at the box, usually with the end of a pencil. He gave it very dubious looks, almost as if it held body parts or something. Hotch gave him till the end of the week, and then he'd make Reid open it.

Strauss didn't seem to mind too much that he hadn't opened it yet, though. She just leaned on the railing to the walk way and gloated as she watched Reid's uneasiness. The more he looked at it with worried eyes, the more pleased she became.


	27. I Told You So

Title: I Told You So  
Characters: Reid  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 140  
Disclaimer: The characters within do not belong to me  
Prompt: dec 27 –ice skating

A/N: not Beta read

Reid offered to take photos. Surely the endeavor ought to be captured for prosperity.

He told them he should sit off to the side and be the person who watched and cheered.

He reminded them that everyone would be much safer if one member of their party was where they could get help easily.

The rest of the team didn't listen and so Reid found himself on ice skates, for all of fifteen minutes.

The rest of the three hours they were supposed to be ice skating Reid spent at the ER waiting for stitches to close the blood gushing gaping hole in his head, curtsey of Morgan's left ice skate and the cut across his left arm, curtsey of Garcia's right ice skate.

And he hadn't even been the cause of the massive crash, just caught in the middle.


	28. Soft and Still

Title: Soft and Still  
Characters: Reid  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 140  
Disclaimer: The characters within do not belong to me  
Prompt: Dec 28, falling snow

A/N: not beta read

Reid considered the afternoon just about perfect. A day off, no work, not calls about cases that just came in. Soft music drifting through the apartment. Cinnamon scented candles flickering and throwing light against shelves and walls and casting interesting shadows in the fading winter light.

Hot chocolate with crushed candy cane to spice it up sitting on the chair side table. Multiple books to just get lost in, none with much redeeming value. Romance and erotica novels, all of them…some even same gendered. A soft fleece blanket to cuddle up in and soup and fresh rolls for dinner. Even freshly baked cookies…all curtsey of Ms. Fitzpatrick two doors down who loved to cook and feed everyone she could.

And outside a soft snow fall floating down past his window, which he didn't have to go out in for three more days!


	29. Memory Holder

Title: Memory Holder  
Characters: Reid  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 371  
Disclaimer:. Not mine  
Prompt: Dec 29 wreath

A/N: Not beta read

Spencer Reid had one Christmas item the he had moved about with him after he'd had his mother committed, one single item they had used during the holiday season which he hadn't pack away and stuck in storage.

It wasn't very big, just the size of a dinner plate.

It wasn't very fancy.

It was a small pine cone wreath. His mom said that it was the type of wreath her mom loved and she had made it for them when Spencer was three. He sat with her, handing her the small pine cones and watched as she wired them to the form. She told him about Christmas with her family, before…

Before she'd gone off to college clear across the country to a Godless city of sin, studying a useless subject like Literature and aiming to become a professor instead of focusing on being a wife and mother and getting married right out of high school to the nice boy across town, whose family would be a good family to have connections to even though the son (nice as he was) had already been nearly arrested six or seven times for beating on his girlfriends. (His daddy was the DA and his uncle the sheriff, nothing even stuck.)

Before she'd gone and married someone from out where she was living without the proper connections and who would add nothing to the family. Someone who didn't even promise to raise up the next generation to the Lord.

She spoke of baking cookies and making candy. Of delivering homemade jams and jelly to the neighbors and waiting to see what their neighbors brought them. She spoke of ice skating on the pond and going to the town's Christmas party and dance and always having a fancy dress with ribbons and lace in bright red or green. She told of hearing her grandpa read the children tales whenever her dad wasn't home to stop him.

It was about the only time she spoke of before. She wove the only stories Spencer remembers her telling of her childhood into the pine cone wreath. Each cone a story, a memory, a name to be recalled when Spencer was older and wondered from where he came.


	30. Proper Christmas Treat

Title: Proper Christmas Treat  
Characters: The team  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 129  
Disclaimer:. Not Mine  
Prompt: Dec 30 Plum or Figgy Pudding / Fruitcake

A/N: Not Beta Read

It sat on the conference room table for just twenty minutes before Garcia insisted everyone join her for some.

Emily had insisted they enjoy the proper treat for Christmas and had a locally made figgy pudding delivered to the BAU.

She wanted video of them all eating it and video she would get.

From Rossi and Blake's graceful compliance to Morgan's poking at it with his fork, it was all recorded for prosperity. Garcia rather thought Emily would like Reid's response best…a five minute lecture on the history and significance of the dessert. Or perhaps Hotch's. He took a bite, sniffed it, and then ate his whole serving in the same manner…bite sniff bite sniff.

Garcia herself made sure to capture everyone's expressions for blackmail material done the line.


	31. New Year's Eve

Title: New Year's Eve  
Characters: Reid/Hotch  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 570ish  
Disclaimer: Not mine and make no money from this  
Prompt: Dec 31 champagne toast

A/N: not beta read

Jack had gone to a school friend's house for a New Year's sleepover. Hotch had spent the six to seven o'clock hour, otherwise known as feeding time, at the child's house to help with the twenty eight little boys at the sleepover. Feeding time was combined with the little girls' party next door, so there had been nearly thirty little girls as well. Feeding time and Movie time were the only combined activities, hence the reason Hotch let Jack go (and the fact that two of the parents helping with the night watch were cops and one was a fellow FBI agent).

Consequently, Hotch found himself talking Reid into going with him to join the rest of the BAU at one of their favorite watering holes (as Rossi called the spots the relaxed at). There were drinks and good conversation. A whole crowd from Quantico ended up in the same spot and multi department competitions were going on in pool and darts and other games. There was even dancing.

Blake had her friend visiting her for a change and they were off dancing, as was Morgan. Garcia and Reid were still sitting with him at the table, waiting for Rossi and the current round of drinks. Garcia had managed to get Reid to drink and Hotch laughed as tipsy Reid became a whole lot more open about himself in the midst of random facts.

They had managed to find out that Reid did manage to flunk a class…high school woodshop.

They had found out that Reid first drove a car when he was eight, to the ER to take his mother in after she'd broken a pickle jar and cut herself badly and his dad was too busy to even come out of his study to find out what was wrong.

Rossi came with the flutes of Champagne to toast in the New Year.

"So, baby boy, when Midnight come who'd you most like to kiss?" Garcia asked Reid.

"Like all together?" Reid asked.

Garcia laughed. "Sometimes I forget you're still young enough to crush on celebrities."

Reid wrinkled his nose in a grouchy pouty face.

Garcia told him, "Focus on who is here."

Reid tilted his head.

"I'd kiss you because you always come through and bring us happy treats when we are down, and I'd kiss Morgan because he's a great best friend. And I'd kiss Blake because she tries so hard to be what we need for our team and doesn't even let us missing Emily make her sad, and I'd…"

Garcia laughed again.

"No, no…who'd you kiss because it's midnight on New Year's."

Reid looked puzzled for a few moments, and then blushed.

"I don't think I want to answer."

"Come on…" Garcia begged.

"No, I don't wanna."

"If you don't answer then you have to do."

Reid thought about it and then agreed and Garcia only managed to get him to admit to once creating a stink bomb and setting it off in college (It really was for an assignment, though, really.) before the countdown to midnight commenced.

They held their glasses out to each other and at the count of twelve Hotch found his lips covered by those of one Spencer Reid. Garcia didn't start cheering right off though, like Hotch expected. He kissed Reid softly back and looked up to see why.

She couldn't because her lips were captured by Rossi and they were captured well.


End file.
